He barely mentions the convention, and not by name. But the man's a Nero Wolfe fan, and that speaks well for him.

That bit about Americans being more "docile" about airline delays made me laugh, though. A couple of weeks ago NBC (?) News was running a series of items about passenger outrage. It's gotten so I really dread plane trips any more. When my son and grandsons came to visit, their plane got in five and a half hours late -- it's an hour and a half flight from Boston to Pittsburgh. And that same weekend my DIL and granddaughter went to a wedding in Rochester, which is even closer to Boston than Pittsburgh; they got in at three in the morning instead of their scheduled arrival at 7:30 the evening before. Air travel is out of control.

And I just noticed BJ (whom I'd been bugging to get online) posted here THREE MONTHS AGO...and I didn't see the message until now. Oy, oy, oy.

The air travel delays are at least partly due to a job action by pilots of one of the airlines (Continental?). They are working without a contract, and are refusing to work any overtime. The airline evidently doesn't give a damn how many future fares they lose, just as long as they don't give in to the Union.

one of two letters to the editor in today's Roanoke Times...the other has to do with our excessively high fares because we are a small regional airport....but obviously subject to the same problems as the big boys.